Don’t be surprised if la surpasses vgk in the standings tho cuz they lost so much depth and have so many injuries every year that they may not be able to overcome without that depth
The talk about the LA Kings playing a more offensive style of hockey and actually moving off their own blueline after the anthem(s) are sung might make the team easier to watch, but I'll believe it when I see it. If they open up just a little, with this roster, I'm not sure if they can still compete in this division against the better teams. It'll be hard to predict where this team ends up until we see just how defence first a system they play under their new coach.
If Byfield really does take yet another step and ends up excelling at center, the Kings could have a first line of FIala - Byfield - Kempe.... That's honestly pretty damn solid with a lot of playmaking/scoring potential. That's especially huge because it then means you have Anze freakin Kopitar as your 2nd line center and Phil Danault as your 3rd line center.
I don't think anyone has factored in what a cancer PLD was to this team last year. Getting rid of that Albatross immediately makes the Kings better mentally. Kings will be better than critics, fans and predictors think.
Well said. Everyone talked so much crap about PLD last year and rightfully so. Now that we lose him everyone's like oh you guys got some big shoes to fill now 😂 the goalie situation cracks me up as well. Everyone is beefing up Talbot when Rittich outplayed him all year. Edmundson is replacing Englund, not Roy. Turcotte is replacing Lizotte. Kings finally have heart and soul and a physical warfare going on right now in training camp. Jeanotte imo is the toughest, most physically intimidating player in the league. We're finally built for playoff hockey. Love your optimism dude gonna be a fun season ✌️
A little better at best my friend the real Cancer is Blake and as long as Blake with his so called advisor Marc Bergevin are with the Kings organization we will be average at best!
It's easy to question LA's prospects, considering they have had delayed impact on the NHL, but virtually all of the top prospects have faced significant injury setbacks concussions (Turcotte), 3 shoulder surgeries for Akil, broken bones and illness for Byfield, Villardi's back, Kupari tore his ACL even now Kaliev breaks his clavicle all being said I'm not worried about the foward core but I do worry about the blueline not re-signing Matt Roy is a mistake that will be hard to overcome and while I believe Spence and Anderson will be just fine Gavrikov was terrible away from Roy last season, Edmunson who was brought in to mitigate Roys loss is significant step down from Roy and has struggled defensively throughout his career and while Clarke has big offensive potential defensively he needs to take a massive step foward otherwise he'll be another Tyson Barrie and Doughty at a time when his minutes need to be reduced there really isn't a player who take those minutes and he wasn't particularly effective when not playing with Anderson all those questions on D make worried about the goaltending and how they hold up against what is liklier an uptick in high danger chances against now with all that I still believe that top 3 in the division is more likely than not VGK is worse on paper, SEA is worse on paper, CGY is in rebuild mode, and is VAN truly a better team than last season maybe I'm not so sure and EDM while I agree are likely the division winners they didn't look real awesome to start last season but I wouldn't be completely surprised if ANA had a big year next season they have a ton of young talent that IF those young guys take a big step could certainly scare the top half
Kings fan here. Optimistic for the young guys but not hopeful in the playoffs. Rob Blake shouldn’t have even had a job when he made the Dubois deal let alone now
Looking at that potential roster for the King, i totally understand the forwards move...but that defense really could use more love cause they feel like one injury and it's over...In the net, i feel it's not as bad as the rest of the league think it is, Coopley could show some flashes again. Wildcard is a good guess with them but i wouldn't be surprise if they do a move in defense, i'm looking at that prospect pool and unless i miss something, no monster except Clarke are moving up ? Am i missing something Kings fans ?
Honestly, as a kings fan I’m way more worried about the forward group than the defense. Brandt Clark and Jordan Spence are legit and Doughty Anderson is still a great first pair. The forward group is not great with depth and we’re kinda hoping for a lot of guys to take a step. Also, we don’t have many right handed forwards and that was an Achilles heel last year.
@@thestoneman1336 As an Oilers fan, looking at the Kings defensively specifically, it feels like they’ve taken a large step back compared to where they were 2 years ago, let alone 3 (the first time they played the Oilers in the playoffs). I can see why you’re optimistic about the young pieces as they will be pretty good shortly here but this team just isn’t anywhere close to as scary as they used to be. I remember the first 2 times the Oilers played the Kings in the playoffs I was genuinely scared of what LA could do but going into last years playoffs and now this season, it just feels like LA is getting worse every year.
As a Kings fan, I agree with what you guys are saying.. young guys who do not have experience, with aging players. But you guys also failed to talk about them changing their 1-3-1 to a 2-2-1 and they are also becoming more physical. Of course, it does not mean success, but it could help them. Plus, the young guys were able to compete with a full NHL roster yesterday night in Utah.
Two thoughts: 1. The Kings are the Islanders of the West. Every year people underrate them and every year there they are in the playoffs, or 2. This is the Kings 'Blip' year. Think '16-17 Avs. Crapped the bed that year and then was able to draft the missing piece of Makar. They'll also get more for trading Jeannot at the deadline than they gave up as well as selling high on Gavrikov. If this happens, they'll be able to push teams like the Avs, Jets & Preds out of the top of the division standings in the 3 to 4 years time.
I don’t think the Kings are underrated at all. They’ve been getting worse over the last 3 seasons and the division they’re in is becoming more and more of a dogfight year after year. If they continue to draw teams like Edmonton, Vancouver, Vegas, etc. LA’s ceiling is a first round exit, probably getting swept.
@@ethanbandura2195it’s rly only Edmonton. They counter the kings style perfectly and make them look a lot worse. The would’ve had a MUCH better time against Vancouver or Vegas with a good chance of winning against them
It really all depends on youth for the Kings - which is admittedly not super ideal, but if a few of these young guys pan out this team could be really dangerous. The big two are Byfield and Clarke. If Byfield can be a 70+ point top 6 center, that's massive for this team. If Clarke can be a 40+ point offensive d man, that's also crucial. Both need to be impact players - they have the skill, just have to put it all together. Then you have guys like Laferriere, Thomas, Turcotte, and Fagemo who could all surprise. Spence could/should take another step forward as a young d man. I understand why people are writing the Kings off, but there's a world where things work out. They now have more toughness to compliment the young talent. Goaltending could be questionable but I honestly think Kuemper can rebound in front of a much better team defensively in the Kings. Going to be a very interesting season regardless
No chance at playoffs now...Doughty's injury looks like at least 2 months which will hurt them because he's been there best defenceman the past 13 or 14 seasons...Hard to take his spot.
I'm not bullish about LA's chances. I think they could finish third in the division, but 4th is more likely and that would leave them outside the playoffs. The Central is just much deeper than the Pacific is.
Huge Kings fan. They're an overall mid team still lead by some great veterans in Kopitar and Doughty while having support from more great players in Kempe, Fiala, Danault and Anderson while looking for some young players to take significant strides in Byfield (who has been doing so), Clarke, and perhaps another surprise or two. Also the jerseys are awful. The logo and cummerbund stripe are egregiously massive and take up 75% of the jersey leaving no breathing room.
Portillo will get a game or two of NHL experience but he won’t be with the team (at least) until 2025/26. He allowed 3 goals in the first 4 Calder Cup playoff games. Once he gets more time to develop in Ontario and see a little NHL action he’s going to take over the #1 goalie
I think we overestimated the future for this team. A lot of the prospects haven’t worked out. They’ve spent the last two offseasons adding size, but it’s come at the expense of skill, and it’s a net negative imo. They won’t score enough. The skater group is built to win 2-1, but they don’t have the goaltending for it. I saw someone on twitter say “2-1 mentality doesn’t work in a 4-3 league” and even though there are a couple teams that are exceptions, you need a Shesterkin or Bobrovsky to make it work. Kuemper and Rittich won’t kill the team, but they won’t steal games either. With the offensive struggles the Kings will have, they’ll need the goalies to steal games. My prediction for the Kings is 43 wins, 92 points, 4th in the division behind Edmonton/Vancouver/Vegas and just barely missing out on the playoffs.
Time will tell tbh - but there's still time for a few of these guys. Byfield is the real deal and will likely be a 70-80+ point center for the foreseeable future. Laferriere could easily take a step forward and be a 40-50+ point winger. Turcotte and Thomas could still pan out if they're able to stay healthy. Fagemo is a wildcard - just put up nearly a goal per game in the AHL. Brandt Clarke could put up 40+ points on the back end right away. Spence is great and should take another step forward this year. Portillo is an excellent goalie prospect who could/should be ready for NHL games this year. Then they have a couple additional prospects that could be interesting to watch over the next couple years: Liam Greentree, Carter George, Koehn Ziemmer, Jakob Dvorak, and a few others. You may be right but it'll be a very interesting season for the Kings - they need a lot to go right for them.
I think you're underestimating what Kuemper could do with a better defense, his advanced stats weren't bad last year and he had been very good/elite for years before that.
I agree with Jessie that only 3 young players will play big minutes and need to step up baring injury this year. Laferriere is getting a shot at LW1, QB is moving to center (middle 6) with Fiala/Foegle on his line, and Spence (not Clarke) is RD2 with Gavrikov. Clarke, Thomas, Turcotte, and Fagemo need to prove themselves at the NHL level but aren’t key players in 2024. 98 points and out in the first round. God please not the Oilers again!
I think the Kings will make it out of the first round, but then unfortunately get cream by the soilers in the second round. Probably be a sweep, too. This is perhaps the worst possible outcome, as getting out of the first round ensures Rob Blake avoids the hot seat next season, thereby meaning he has two or three more years to wreck the Kings.
We'll see, when the season starts; if they play and look the same as they did last season, then I'll say you're right. If the young guys step up and make waves, then I'll say we've turned a corner on Kings style of play.
Unfortunately the Kings need to blow the team up again. Kopitar and doughty were the correct pieces to build around 15 years ago. Byfield is not close to as good as Kopitar is NOW. Clarke is not near as good as doughty is now. And the pacific is much more competitive than it was 15 years ago with McDavid draisaitl celebrini and Eichel now.
Why does Blake get hate but stevey Y gets a pass? They are both not very good at this point , at least the kings are a regular playoff team and can make the excuse of running into the oilers
The Detroit Season preview isn’t out yet, they’ll probably roast the bad moves equivalently, at least Blake got Bergevin as a scape goat. I’d the argue that Detroit’s division is extremely more competitive, especially this year everyone has taken a step, except Florida who paid the cup tax.
Steve Y is managing a team in a much more competitive top to bottom division and he has hit on his top draft picks. Blakes division is truly haves and have nots and he whiffed on every top pick. Steve is building pieces to win a cup. Blake is whiffing on trades (Petersen and PLD).
@christopherrhorer5192 steve y has done some of the worst free agent signing in the last 5 years and who has he drafted that was on the team last year? 3 players that's it , w How was that trade with SJ , they added in a 2nd , wth was that . How's zadina looking?
@@THEGDB I am looking at this from a Kings fan lense- Steve hit on Seider. Blake WHIFFED MASSIVELY on Turcotte the pick before. Raymond is better than Byfield who was two picks before. I’m not sure either franchise fanbase is excited this upcoming season. But if Blake had the right scouts he would have drafted Stutzle, Seider, and Raymond and definitely would have beaten the oilers at least once or twice in the playoffs.
Wouldn’t call the division with a solidified top 3 teams (EDM, VAN, VGS) “wide open”. It is wide open after those 3 but I don’t think the bottom 5 pacific teams have a huge chance of getting a wildcard spot. I’d even say Seattle has a higher ceiling than LA this year. So the best LA can do is be the last wildcard team in the west and I don’t really see that being a sure thing when 4-5 teams in the Central are better than LA.
the Kings are in danger of competing for the mushy middle. Their top prospects they drafted throughout the last 6-7 years have not panned out to top 6 NHL forwards. Kopitar still does not and has never had a legit first line forward linemate. They don’t have any blue chip prospects expected to make the jump and they are currently competing for a wild card playoff spot. If they’re a fringe playoff team and they aren’t in a rebuild, then they need to trade a player like Trevor Moore when his value is highest and get an elite young player and draft pick or a goalie or something. They have zero ELITE talent. This is why the Petersen contract and PLD trade and sign were so catastrophic….neither player was ELITE and they gave up their best leverage to get an elite player. Now they are in a desperate position hoping byfield and Clarke are MVP and Norris caliber (respectively). And neither of them will ever be that.
@@christopherrhorer5192 Scoring goals are what's important now that they have the necessary pieces in place. Jeannot was a good addition to his line. I think he'll have an even better season this time...32 goals! LOL!
@@judymowatt4264 the Kings are in danger of competing for the mushy middle. Their top prospects they drafted the last 5 years have not panned out to top 6 NHL forwards. They don’t have any blue chip prospects expected to make the jump and they are currently competing for a wild card playoff spot. If they’re a fringe playoff team and they aren’t in a rebuild, then they need to trade a player like Trevor Moore when his value is highest and get an elite young player and draft pick or a goalie or something. They have zero ELITE talent. This is why the Petersen contract and PLD trade and sign were so catastrophic….neither player was ELITE and they gave up their best leverage to get an elite player. Now they are in a desperate position hoping byfield and Clarke are MVP and Norris caliber (respectively). And neither of them will ever be that.
@@christopherrhorer5192 Why draft more YOUNG talent with little NHL experience. The young draft choices will take more time to develop and you won't see the instant gratification that everyone expects. There's still a lot of youth on the team to develop. IMHO, Brandt Clarke makes some lame decisions at the worst time.
Edmonton 1st Vegas 2nd LA 3rd Wildcard fight between Canucks 4th Kraken 5th Then the spoilers Anaheim 6th Flames 7th Sharks 8th Canucks are overrated AF, if Demko is out for any significant time they will be playing catch up, their D outside of Hughes / Hronek is the biggest collection of bottom pairing 5-8th level Pylons in the show, 2 top 4 D, 4 top 6 forwards… won’t cut it, great bottom 6 sure but I don’t buy the hype. They beat up on Edmonton’s slow start last season and feasted on 4 of the bottom 10 teams which came from Pacific Division, they looked horrid against Nashville in round 1 and only mustered 5 games against Edmonton in a 7 game series, game 5 of round 2 was the only 60 minute game they played as a team. I don’t see it It’s Edmonton’s division to lose, LA will improve just by having Byfield at 2 C over Dubois. Vegas has a deep D core and still has a good team up front minus Marchessault, Vegas being Vegas will have no issue trading for top end depth if needed. Kraken will be better this year and will be fighting Canucks for wildcard along with Colorado, Utah, St. Louis, maybe Chicago Central 1 Nashville 2 Dallas 3 Winnipeg 4 Colorado 5 Utah 6 St Louis 7 Chicago 8 Minnesota Anaheim and Sharks more competitive, Canucks will have a harder time collecting automatic 2 points in California this year. Calgary who knows but they are “retooling”
Don’t be surprised if la surpasses vgk in the standings tho cuz they lost so much depth and have so many injuries every year that they may not be able to overcome without that depth
LA got worse, and doughty's out long term. they're missing the playoffs. why does blake still have a job?
The talk about the LA Kings playing a more offensive style of hockey and actually moving off their own blueline after the anthem(s) are sung might make the team easier to watch, but I'll believe it when I see it. If they open up just a little, with this roster, I'm not sure if they can still compete in this division against the better teams. It'll be hard to predict where this team ends up until we see just how defence first a system they play under their new coach.
If Byfield really does take yet another step and ends up excelling at center, the Kings could have a first line of FIala - Byfield - Kempe.... That's honestly pretty damn solid with a lot of playmaking/scoring potential. That's especially huge because it then means you have Anze freakin Kopitar as your 2nd line center and Phil Danault as your 3rd line center.
Go Kings Go 👑🏒💪🏼
First look at Utah tonight, hopefully the Kings' great record vs Coyotes carries over
Its gonna be the Kings B team. Don’t expect much.
I don't think anyone has factored in what a cancer PLD was to this team last year. Getting rid of that Albatross immediately makes the Kings better mentally. Kings will be better than critics, fans and predictors think.
Well said. Everyone talked so much crap about PLD last year and rightfully so. Now that we lose him everyone's like oh you guys got some big shoes to fill now 😂 the goalie situation cracks me up as well. Everyone is beefing up Talbot when Rittich outplayed him all year. Edmundson is replacing Englund, not Roy. Turcotte is replacing Lizotte. Kings finally have heart and soul and a physical warfare going on right now in training camp. Jeanotte imo is the toughest, most physically intimidating player in the league. We're finally built for playoff hockey. Love your optimism dude gonna be a fun season ✌️
GKG!!!
@@Casket771 Proof is in the pudding. Look what they did with minor leaguers against Utah's NHL'ers. It is gonna be a fun season.
A little better at best my friend the real Cancer is Blake and as long as Blake with his so called advisor Marc Bergevin are with the Kings organization we will be average at best!
their goaltending is worse and doughty's out long term.
It's easy to question LA's prospects, considering they have had delayed impact on the NHL, but virtually all of the top prospects have faced significant injury setbacks concussions (Turcotte), 3 shoulder surgeries for Akil, broken bones and illness for Byfield, Villardi's back, Kupari tore his ACL even now Kaliev breaks his clavicle all being said I'm not worried about the foward core but I do worry about the blueline not re-signing Matt Roy is a mistake that will be hard to overcome and while I believe Spence and Anderson will be just fine Gavrikov was terrible away from Roy last season, Edmunson who was brought in to mitigate Roys loss is significant step down from Roy and has struggled defensively throughout his career and while Clarke has big offensive potential defensively he needs to take a massive step foward otherwise he'll be another Tyson Barrie and Doughty at a time when his minutes need to be reduced there really isn't a player who take those minutes and he wasn't particularly effective when not playing with Anderson all those questions on D make worried about the goaltending and how they hold up against what is liklier an uptick in high danger chances against now with all that I still believe that top 3 in the division is more likely than not VGK is worse on paper, SEA is worse on paper, CGY is in rebuild mode, and is VAN truly a better team than last season maybe I'm not so sure and EDM while I agree are likely the division winners they didn't look real awesome to start last season but I wouldn't be completely surprised if ANA had a big year next season they have a ton of young talent that IF those young guys take a big step could certainly scare the top half
Is this SDPN? I can't see any branding.
Kings fan here. Optimistic for the young guys but not hopeful in the playoffs. Rob Blake shouldn’t have even had a job when he made the Dubois deal let alone now
Hey guys .... Byfield has been labeled for center since early summer. He'll be centering Fiala and Foegele to start the season.
La finishes 2nd
Looking at that potential roster for the King, i totally understand the forwards move...but that defense really could use more love cause they feel like one injury and it's over...In the net, i feel it's not as bad as the rest of the league think it is, Coopley could show some flashes again. Wildcard is a good guess with them but i wouldn't be surprise if they do a move in defense, i'm looking at that prospect pool and unless i miss something, no monster except Clarke are moving up ? Am i missing something Kings fans ?
Honestly, as a kings fan I’m way more worried about the forward group than the defense. Brandt Clark and Jordan Spence are legit and Doughty Anderson is still a great first pair. The forward group is not great with depth and we’re kinda hoping for a lot of guys to take a step. Also, we don’t have many right handed forwards and that was an Achilles heel last year.
@@thestoneman1336 As an Oilers fan, looking at the Kings defensively specifically, it feels like they’ve taken a large step back compared to where they were 2 years ago, let alone 3 (the first time they played the Oilers in the playoffs). I can see why you’re optimistic about the young pieces as they will be pretty good shortly here but this team just isn’t anywhere close to as scary as they used to be. I remember the first 2 times the Oilers played the Kings in the playoffs I was genuinely scared of what LA could do but going into last years playoffs and now this season, it just feels like LA is getting worse every year.
Rip doughty
As a Kings fan, I agree with what you guys are saying.. young guys who do not have experience, with aging players. But you guys also failed to talk about them changing their 1-3-1 to a 2-2-1 and they are also becoming more physical. Of course, it does not mean success, but it could help them. Plus, the young guys were able to compete with a full NHL roster yesterday night in Utah.
Two thoughts:
1. The Kings are the Islanders of the West. Every year people underrate them and every year there they are in the playoffs, or
2. This is the Kings 'Blip' year. Think '16-17 Avs. Crapped the bed that year and then was able to draft the missing piece of Makar. They'll also get more for trading Jeannot at the deadline than they gave up as well as selling high on Gavrikov. If this happens, they'll be able to push teams like the Avs, Jets & Preds out of the top of the division standings in the 3 to 4 years time.
I don’t think the Kings are underrated at all. They’ve been getting worse over the last 3 seasons and the division they’re in is becoming more and more of a dogfight year after year. If they continue to draw teams like Edmonton, Vancouver, Vegas, etc. LA’s ceiling is a first round exit, probably getting swept.
@@ethanbandura2195it’s rly only Edmonton. They counter the kings style perfectly and make them look a lot worse. The would’ve had a MUCH better time against Vancouver or Vegas with a good chance of winning against them
the isles have two goalies who are both FAR superior to anyone the kings have.
@@doaftheloaf kings actually have a forward and offensive lineup tho
@@unique_package5370 better to win 2-1 than lose 6-5.
Black jerseys are such a cheat code
Kings are going to be that mediocre good team for a while. It's the curse of being good but not elite.
I can’t believe they gave Edmundson 4 years. Wow.
It really all depends on youth for the Kings - which is admittedly not super ideal, but if a few of these young guys pan out this team could be really dangerous. The big two are Byfield and Clarke. If Byfield can be a 70+ point top 6 center, that's massive for this team. If Clarke can be a 40+ point offensive d man, that's also crucial. Both need to be impact players - they have the skill, just have to put it all together. Then you have guys like Laferriere, Thomas, Turcotte, and Fagemo who could all surprise. Spence could/should take another step forward as a young d man. I understand why people are writing the Kings off, but there's a world where things work out. They now have more toughness to compliment the young talent. Goaltending could be questionable but I honestly think Kuemper can rebound in front of a much better team defensively in the Kings. Going to be a very interesting season regardless
No chance at playoffs now...Doughty's injury looks like at least 2 months which will hurt them because he's been there best defenceman the past 13 or 14 seasons...Hard to take his spot.
LA Kings are having a Calgary Flames and Ottawa Senators "Don't call it a rebuild" rebuild going on
I'm not bullish about LA's chances. I think they could finish third in the division, but 4th is more likely and that would leave them outside the playoffs. The Central is just much deeper than the Pacific is.
Huge Kings fan.
They're an overall mid team still lead by some great veterans in Kopitar and Doughty while having support from more great players in Kempe, Fiala, Danault and Anderson while looking for some young players to take significant strides in Byfield (who has been doing so), Clarke, and perhaps another surprise or two.
Also the jerseys are awful. The logo and cummerbund stripe are egregiously massive and take up 75% of the jersey leaving no breathing room.
Tough to listen to you experts if you are a die heart King fan. I will keep you in my thoughts. Let’s see what happens.
I wonder how many picks tanner jeannot has been traded for. probably is a record at this point.
Portillo will get a game or two of NHL experience but he won’t be with the team (at least) until 2025/26. He allowed 3 goals in the first 4 Calder Cup playoff games. Once he gets more time to develop in Ontario and see a little NHL action he’s going to take over the #1 goalie
hmm. they're not making the playoffs this year with kuemper, rittich, or copley as 1G.
I think we overestimated the future for this team. A lot of the prospects haven’t worked out. They’ve spent the last two offseasons adding size, but it’s come at the expense of skill, and it’s a net negative imo. They won’t score enough. The skater group is built to win 2-1, but they don’t have the goaltending for it.
I saw someone on twitter say “2-1 mentality doesn’t work in a 4-3 league” and even though there are a couple teams that are exceptions, you need a Shesterkin or Bobrovsky to make it work.
Kuemper and Rittich won’t kill the team, but they won’t steal games either. With the offensive struggles the Kings will have, they’ll need the goalies to steal games.
My prediction for the Kings is 43 wins, 92 points, 4th in the division behind Edmonton/Vancouver/Vegas and just barely missing out on the playoffs.
Time will tell tbh - but there's still time for a few of these guys. Byfield is the real deal and will likely be a 70-80+ point center for the foreseeable future. Laferriere could easily take a step forward and be a 40-50+ point winger. Turcotte and Thomas could still pan out if they're able to stay healthy. Fagemo is a wildcard - just put up nearly a goal per game in the AHL. Brandt Clarke could put up 40+ points on the back end right away. Spence is great and should take another step forward this year. Portillo is an excellent goalie prospect who could/should be ready for NHL games this year. Then they have a couple additional prospects that could be interesting to watch over the next couple years: Liam Greentree, Carter George, Koehn Ziemmer, Jakob Dvorak, and a few others. You may be right but it'll be a very interesting season for the Kings - they need a lot to go right for them.
I think you're underestimating what Kuemper could do with a better defense, his advanced stats weren't bad last year and he had been very good/elite for years before that.
I agree with Jessie that only 3 young players will play big minutes and need to step up baring injury this year. Laferriere is getting a shot at LW1, QB is moving to center (middle 6) with Fiala/Foegle on his line, and Spence (not Clarke) is RD2 with Gavrikov. Clarke, Thomas, Turcotte, and Fagemo need to prove themselves at the NHL level but aren’t key players in 2024. 98 points and out in the first round. God please not the Oilers again!
I think the Kings will make it out of the first round, but then unfortunately get cream by the soilers in the second round. Probably be a sweep, too.
This is perhaps the worst possible outcome, as getting out of the first round ensures Rob Blake avoids the hot seat next season, thereby meaning he has two or three more years to wreck the Kings.
first round exit is their ceiling, lmao.
We'll see, when the season starts; if they play and look the same as they did last season, then I'll say you're right. If the young guys step up and make waves, then I'll say we've turned a corner on Kings style of play.
The LA kings are the Maple Leafs of the West. Good enough to make the playoffs but do nothing in them.
At least we have won more than 3 rounds to win a cup, 2 cups actually
@@bluelineking1199 fe.
As a Ducks fan, I hope Rob Blake keeps his job for a very long time
GKG!!!
Unfortunately the Kings need to blow the team up again. Kopitar and doughty were the correct pieces to build around 15 years ago. Byfield is not close to as good as Kopitar is NOW. Clarke is not near as good as doughty is now. And the pacific is much more competitive than it was 15 years ago with McDavid draisaitl celebrini and Eichel now.
NO PLAYOFF SERIES WINS IN OVER A DECADE 😂😂😂
Pipe down lil brody
Same with the Ducks
2 cups (;
@@indianajones50372 cups in over 50 years is embarrassing
@@enmac500the ducks have won 4 series in the last decade I believe.
Why does Blake get hate but stevey Y gets a pass? They are both not very good at this point , at least the kings are a regular playoff team and can make the excuse of running into the oilers
The Detroit Season preview isn’t out yet, they’ll probably roast the bad moves equivalently, at least Blake got Bergevin as a scape goat.
I’d the argue that Detroit’s division is extremely more competitive, especially this year everyone has taken a step, except Florida who paid the cup tax.
Steve Y is managing a team in a much more competitive top to bottom division and he has hit on his top draft picks. Blakes division is truly haves and have nots and he whiffed on every top pick. Steve is building pieces to win a cup. Blake is whiffing on trades (Petersen and PLD).
@christopherrhorer5192 steve y has done some of the worst free agent signing in the last 5 years and who has he drafted that was on the team last year? 3 players that's it , w
How was that trade with SJ , they added in a 2nd , wth was that . How's zadina looking?
@@THEGDB I am looking at this from a Kings fan lense- Steve hit on Seider. Blake WHIFFED MASSIVELY on Turcotte the pick before. Raymond is better than Byfield who was two picks before.
I’m not sure either franchise fanbase is excited this upcoming season. But if Blake had the right scouts he would have drafted Stutzle, Seider, and Raymond and definitely would have beaten the oilers at least once or twice in the playoffs.
@christopherrhorer5192 Detroit isn't even a playoff team and by field at his current contract is a much better value then Raymond
Guess what? The Pacific division is wide open and the La Kings have as good a chance as anyone.
Wide open I don’t think so they have decent playoff odds but I can’t see them finishing higher than 4th
Wouldn’t call the division with a solidified top 3 teams (EDM, VAN, VGS) “wide open”. It is wide open after those 3 but I don’t think the bottom 5 pacific teams have a huge chance of getting a wildcard spot. I’d even say Seattle has a higher ceiling than LA this year. So the best LA can do is be the last wildcard team in the west and I don’t really see that being a sure thing when 4-5 teams in the Central are better than LA.
Line for line, you look at the stars and production of the players on LA, and you realize, “Their stars are kinda other teams’ average player”!
The kings entire reason to exist as a franchise is to be first round fodder for the oilers
the Kings are in danger of competing for the mushy middle. Their top prospects they drafted throughout the last 6-7 years have not panned out to top 6 NHL forwards. Kopitar still does not and has never had a legit first line forward linemate. They don’t have any blue chip prospects expected to make the jump and they are currently competing for a wild card playoff spot. If they’re a fringe playoff team and they aren’t in a rebuild, then they need to trade a player like Trevor Moore when his value is highest and get an elite young player and draft pick or a goalie or something. They have zero ELITE talent. This is why the Petersen contract and PLD trade and sign were so catastrophic….neither player was ELITE and they gave up their best leverage to get an elite player. Now they are in a desperate position hoping byfield and Clarke are MVP and Norris caliber (respectively). And neither of them will ever be that.
"Kopitar still does not and has never had a legit first line forward linemate."
You're forgetting Gaborik the rare times he was healthy.
@@ASteveVaiFan Gaborik was 34 when he got traded to the Kings. Less than half the player he was in his prime.
easily the most overhyped team in the league
Overhyped?? Everyone is predicting they'll miss the playoffs or lose in the first round again?? Doesn't seem like a lot of hype to me lol
What are you smoking?
Kings missed their window to trade Moore.
Why would they trade their highest goal scorer?
@@judymowatt4264 his value will never be higher. He won’t have another season like that.
@@christopherrhorer5192 Scoring goals are what's important now that they have the necessary pieces in place. Jeannot was a good addition to his line. I think he'll have an even better season this time...32 goals! LOL!
@@judymowatt4264 the Kings are in danger of competing for the mushy middle. Their top prospects they drafted the last 5 years have not panned out to top 6 NHL forwards. They don’t have any blue chip prospects expected to make the jump and they are currently competing for a wild card playoff spot. If they’re a fringe playoff team and they aren’t in a rebuild, then they need to trade a player like Trevor Moore when his value is highest and get an elite young player and draft pick or a goalie or something. They have zero ELITE talent. This is why the Petersen contract and PLD trade and sign were so catastrophic….neither player was ELITE and they gave up their best leverage to get an elite player. Now they are in a desperate position hoping byfield and Clarke are MVP and Norris caliber (respectively). And neither of them will ever be that.
@@christopherrhorer5192 Why draft more YOUNG talent with little NHL experience. The young draft choices will take more time to develop and you won't see the instant gratification that everyone expects. There's still a lot of youth on the team to develop. IMHO, Brandt Clarke makes some lame decisions at the worst time.
FIRST AF!
La?
Edmonton 1
Vegas 2
LA 3
Canucks 4
Kraken 5
… Canucks are a wildcard team at best.
Pacific was a joke last year and Canucks the most overrated team
I hate the Chevy/Kings logo!
Edmonton 1st
Vegas 2nd
LA 3rd
Wildcard fight between
Canucks 4th
Kraken 5th
Then the spoilers
Anaheim 6th
Flames 7th
Sharks 8th
Canucks are overrated AF, if Demko is out for any significant time they will be playing catch up, their D outside of Hughes / Hronek is the biggest collection of bottom pairing 5-8th level Pylons in the show, 2 top 4 D, 4 top 6 forwards… won’t cut it, great bottom 6 sure but I don’t buy the hype.
They beat up on Edmonton’s slow start last season and feasted on 4 of the bottom 10 teams which came from Pacific Division, they looked horrid against Nashville in round 1 and only mustered 5 games against Edmonton in a 7 game series, game 5 of round 2 was the only 60 minute game they played as a team.
I don’t see it
It’s Edmonton’s division to lose, LA will improve just by having Byfield at 2 C over Dubois. Vegas has a deep D core and still has a good team up front minus Marchessault, Vegas being Vegas will have no issue trading for top end depth if needed.
Kraken will be better this year and will be fighting Canucks for wildcard along with Colorado, Utah, St. Louis, maybe Chicago
Central
1 Nashville
2 Dallas
3 Winnipeg
4 Colorado
5 Utah
6 St Louis
7 Chicago
8 Minnesota
Anaheim and Sharks more competitive, Canucks will have a harder time collecting automatic 2 points in California this year.
Calgary who knows but they are “retooling”